During our month long migration from Texas, we spent about a week in Utah. Like everywhere else this summer, it was uber hot! As always, I hear my environment as much as see it, and the southwest is such a different sound world. While hardly a...
Read MoreThis summer I moved. Across country. Not a big deal, people do it all the time. I’m fascinated by the stories of human migration. I’m not talking about diaspora, which usually refers to large involuntary movements, or scattering, of people away from their established or ancestral...
Read MorePart 3 of 3 The “Composers from the Wilderness arrive back in Fairbanks mid-afternoon on Wednesday where we all work to finalize our scores and create parts. For most of us, sleep that night is an unattained luxury. Rehearsals begin Thursday morning.We are incredibly fortunate, since...
Read MorePART 2 of 3 - Composing in Denali National Park & Preserve DAY 1: With our packs filled with sleeping bags, long johns, and staff paper – no computers or keyboards – our group of ten composers, meet and greet as we head for the van to Denali...
Read MoreI’m in Alaska – rather above its glacial ice fields, jagged peaks, and forested streams. Yep, still in the airplane, but in Alaska’s airspace. Having most recently worked with Homestead National Monument, I know that many of America’s most recent Homesteads were “proved up” here...
Read MoreI’m always interested in finding out why particular landscapes attract certain groups of people. (FREE LAND!! IT’S FREE!) Ok, seems simple, but there’s more to it than that. The improvements required by the Act within five years were substantial. Who would do that? Ultimately, 60%...
Read MoreI’m having a wonderful experience as Composer-In-Residence at Homestead National Monument outside of Beatrice Nebraska. Actually, the Parks call it Artist-in-Residence, but this way, people don’t ask me if I paint or sculpt. Composer Alex Shapiro says she believes we hear differently when we are...
Read MoreWe tend to look at the past in static terms – year, date, event. Almost like looking at disconnected photographs, we usually don’t see the full image outside of the frame. What were all the little incidences and decisions that led up to this event?...
Read MoreIt’s easy to forget how arduous a 60 mile journey was 150 years ago. We live in a world where information from 60 or even 6,000 miles away can be “oh, so 23 seconds ago!” Similar communication took days or weeks to arrive just a...
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